Charlotte Pritt, a former Democratic candidate for WV governor and now running as a Mountain Party candidate, issued the following statement on Sept. 20:

"Yesterday, I was shocked and saddened at comments by WV State Democratic Chair Belinda Biafore regarding my candidacy for the Governorship of West Virginia.

"In a blanket statement (attached below for download as PDF), issued via email to WV Democrats, Chair. Biafore, Senator Joe Manchin's cousin, directly accused me of receiving campaign funds from Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole. Asserting that I’d been "adopted" by the Republicans, the Democratic Party chair should have known that her outlandish reference to me as Cole’s running mate is both impossible and illegal.

For the record, I have NOT received one penny from Bill Cole, his campaign, or the GOP.

My candidacy is focused entirely on ISSUES that the Democratic Party once stood for. During the eight years that I served in the WV Legislature I maintained a 100% voting record on behalf of Senior Citizens, Labor, Small Businesses, West Virginians with Disabilities, women and children’s health issues and protecting drinkable water. My legislative record of supporting people’s interests over corporations earned me the titles of "The Defender of the People" and the "Mother Jones of the WV Legislature."

The Democratic Party's campaign of fear and misinformation concerning me is not becoming to a party that once represented the people.

I am heart sick over the WV Democratic Party’s recent history of abandoning its progressive candidates. During my gubernatorial candidacy in 1996, Joe Manchin started Democrats for Underwood after I soundly defeated him in the Democratic primary. His Party has abandoned other progressive candidates since. Ask Sue Thorn about her First Congressional District run in 2012, or Virginia Graf about her Second Congressional District candidacy in 2010 or more recently, first Congressional Candidate Mike Manypenny or Mary Ann Claytor, the brilliant African American running for state Auditor. The Joe Manchin Democratic Party of today offers little support for candidates who put The People First!

Distracting registered Democrats from the fact that their own gubernatorial nominee only recently began calling himself a Democrat basically confirms that Joe Manchin’s corporate-controlled ALEC still owns both of WV’s mainstream Political Parties.